Western Short StoriesTom SheehanPage Two

Western Short Stories by Tom Sheehan

The Lady From Random Two

Tom Sheehan

Charlie Walters sat his mount right beside the Random Two ranch house door, as stern looking as he possibly could appear, Sunday's sun warming him already. Shaking his finger at his wife, he thrust the warning at her, "No strangers in the house, Edna, not a one. I heard some strange stories in town my last trip and don't want anything odd happening around here, to you or any of our kin. Take my words to heart. Hear me?" He didn't reveal any of the particulars he had heard. Under his breath he might have said, "No sense making her worry no more'n usual. In five years nary a soul's fired a gun in anger on the whole Random Two spread , and if so, was alleviating his own mind; guns had no part in the stories that were circulating in town...Read more of The Lady From Random Two

Just
Luke, Broken Head and Zero, the Sun King (Kehetu,
Taabe Tanasi)

Tom
Sheehan

A
feeling that he was not alone came as broad as the breeze touching
the tall grass, whispering and yelling at the same time; downright
chilly it was, ominous ... and hiding something or someone, known or
unknown, here in Comanche country, in this sudden range he was riding
on as if it had spilled like a river from the mountains running off
to places he had never seen. His slightest nerve edges sharpened
themselves on an unseen but fine and keen wheel of stone, fingers
gone to itching, eyes gone searching deeper, measuring, leaving him
in a bind again, alone amidst space, mystery and the rest of the
world. He liked new things, but realized some of them promised
trouble right from the start. Read more of Just Luke here

The
Man in Black Hung on the Barn Door

Tom
Sheehan

The
posse, a malignant bunch looking as if they'd been on the trail for a
month of motherless Saturdays, couldn't find a tree for a proper
hanging. The land, as far as the eye could see in a canyon harbored
by steep mountain ridges, showed poor and held little promise...Read more of The Man in Black Hung on the Barn Door

New Man in Town

Tom Sheehan

"Something's
wrong," Torbic Malkev said under his breath as he looked past
the open door of the Whippoorwill Saloon and saw people standing in a
small crowd, gawking around oddly and not directly at the saloon door
where the sheriff stood framed in the doorway and staring inside ...
at him. In Malkev's hand, his gun hand, was the first drink in a
month and a half of trail driving, and the thirst and need in his
throat, in his mouth, crawling on his teeth as though it might never
be assuaged...Read more of New Man in Town

The Godly Search

Tom Sheehan

Shag Howland's eyes,
he firmly believed, were as good as ever. From the upper trail
crossing an open ledge early in Colorado, he had seen both objects in
an incredible second. The first, high on a possible crosswind,
wingspan enormous against the cobalt blue sky and only the tips of
feathers directing circular flight, a buzzard obviously had a target
in sight, a sure meal on the thick grass off a distinctive prairie
trail. The target of the flight, apparently as still as death
allows, looked clothed, hatted, booted, simple discards once the
buzzard landed for the last meal...Read more of The Godly Search

The Limp Effect

Tom Sheehan

Miss Kathy Magnox,
from her ranch house porch where she was hanging clothes to dry on a
short line to a scarred tree, humming away at her favorite song to
otherwise pass the time of morning and think a bit while alone about
her boyfriend Dave Kressick, saw the rider coming around the bend as
though he had left town behind him, and the horse begin, right out
there in front of her, to limp a decided and painful limp, as if this
journey was going no further, as if it was meant to stop here by an
act of the Almighty or a stray stone or a monger's nail or by
training...Read more of The Limp Effect

Lucien
Dalpe and the Desperadoes

Tom
Sheehan

The
big man at the bar, the sheriff of Wilsonville, Lucien Dalpe, kept
fondling his empty glass, kept looking in the mirror behind the bar
in the Wolfhead Saloon, the entrance door in plain view, its bat
wings moving to a slight breeze pushing from the west, from the
mountains also throwing shadows onto town. Nervousness he seemed to
exhibit to close observers, but some of them really knew better; if
any man was prepared for excitement, murderous intent, a shot in the
back, it was Dalpe, long time on a tough job, a survivor from the
outset. It was said his eyes measured feelings as well as movements
in his concerns, like an omnipresent character at work. His hat sat
lightly on his head, as did one hand on the bar top, the other at his
belt; a man always ready at his occupation...Read more of Lucien Dalpe and the Desperadoes

Ragskin,
Nevada

Tom
Sheehan

The
story starts out in complete innocence ... and one would expect it to
end in the same docile atmosphere. But Ragskin, Nevada of the teeming
old west occasionally let loose the hooks of unusual events...Read more of Ragskin, Nevada

The
Orphan from Ciudad verde pálido

Tom
Sheehan

“That
kid ain’t halfway to a cricket, you ask me, ‘n’ I hope he’s
small enough to crawl out of that mess.” The miner Lew Osgood stood
at the entrance to the old mine, dust from a collapsed tunnel pouring
out into the valley and getting caught up by a steady wind. He saw
the 7- year-old Chico Vestra finally walk through the cloud of dust,
and Chico yelled out, “The fuse was lit from the other end of the
tunnel. It was coming toward me all lit up and I had to run.”...Read more of The Orphan from Cuidad verde palido

A Garden of Plenty

Tom Sheehan

Monroe Boxler and Madeleine
Solari were married in Independence, Missouri on the last day of May,
1870, Boxler separated from the army and Madeleine free of a despotic
family to which she was more slave than daughter. All she ever wanted
was her own garden and Boxler, on their first late night meeting when
she slipped out of the house, promised her that she’d have her own
garden if she married him and they’d go west, to a new opportunity
for both of them...Read more of A Garden of Plenty>>

A
Greater Kingdom and a Lesser Court

Tom
Sheehan

“Hey,
Ward,” said the livery man, “did you see that new dude in town,
looks like he got dressed up in New York for fun and was kicked out
here on the stage to give us all a laugh. Sure is a funny lookin’
dude. I almost laughed aloud when he near fell off’n the stage with
them funny boots he’s awearin’, never mind the flummery shirt
with ruffles a girl can’t get enough of.” Read more of A Greater Kingdom and a Lesser Court>>

A
Gunfighter’s Last Call

Tom
Sheehan

He had simply
stepped over from one building to the next one, from one flat roof to
another, a wide step but one step. The agility in his body,
especially in his legs, had diminished from several falls … not
unexpectedly. The challenge in the beginning, in getting here to the
roof of the Trail Drive Saloon and Hotel in Willowbar, Oklahoma, was
climbing from his saddle to the porch roof in the back of the general
store. His horse had stood still long enough for him to manage his
way erect on the saddle so he could pull himself up onto the roof. If
he had fallen, it might hurt and be noisy, but noisy he didn’t
need...Read more of A Gunfighters Last Call>>